What with his dictator-like hold on power and heavy handed squelching of the Occupy Wall Street movement, NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg hasn’t scored too many points with the progressive camp lately. However, yesterday he did manage to take a step back in the right (or rather, left) direction by criticizing the Obama administration’s politically motivated overruling of the FDA’s decision on whether or not the morning after pill should be available over the counter to girls younger than 17.

When asked by a reporter how he felt about the decision, Bloomberg said that FDA commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg‘s decision “was based not on politics — it was based on real scientific research,” coyly adding, “Why [Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen] Sebelius decided to overrule her, I don’t know.” (YES YOU DO.) A politician who believes in science? Imagine that.

“The bottom line is, we have many too many out-of-wedlock births in this country,” he said. “And, yes, the people who say young girls shouldn’t get pregnant, they’re 100 percent right. And we do in this city a lot to try to teach people and inform them of the consequences of being parents.”

“It would be much better if the young girls didn’t get pregnant,” he continued, but since they do, “I think that this should be available to anybody.”

This quote actually contains some factual inaccuracies; as has been reiterated time and again (and largely understood by the teenagers who participated in the study!), emergency contraception is not an abortion pill. He’d need to replace “get pregnant” with “have sex” to make his statement match up to what he was trying to say. But since Bloomie’s heart seems like it’s in the right place, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. It’s a sad day I find myself siding against the president I voted for and with the mayor I voted against, but we live in some rather strange times.